Hard work paying off for Vikings

They never failed to make Steve Mally smile.

It was a given their summer days would start around 8 a.m. Mally, the Holmen High School boys and girls cross country coach, would see many of his runners begin their offseason workouts.

It’s days like Tuesday that reinforce Mally’s belief that his runners were serious about the upcoming season. The Vikings girls placed six runners in the top 15, scored

44 points and won the Holmen Invitational at Drugan’s Castle Mound Country Club.

Meanwhile, the Holmen boys finished fourth with 84 points, but placed three runners in the top five.

Mally was pleased with what he saw from both teams by the end of last season. Seeing the work they did this past summer only encouraged him.

“They’ve taken it upon themselves to follow the (summer) program,” Mally said. “If your coach is more excited than you, then you’ve got a problem. But these kids have motivated me.”

Holmen senior Kali Johnson, who was the Vikings’ top runner Tuesday (sixth place with a 4,000-meter time of 16 minutes, 28 seconds), says she and her teammates are just as energized.

Malley cut the number of Holmen’s meets from nine to eight this season and has put a greater focus on practicing and building toward the end of the season. Johnson said that even though it’s an approach that took a little getting used to, she believes it will be beneficial.

“Every meet is a new meet,” Johnson said. “You never get sick of it.”

Holmen senior Alex Kerkman says the Vikings boys feel the same way.

“It’s still too early to tell how good we can be,” said Kerkman, who finished fourth in the boys race with a 5,000-meter time of 17:32.

“We want to be peaking at the right time. The fact we stuck together in a race like this was good to see.”